Ramanujan Wrote The Math For Black Holes — 111 Years Before Physics Caught Up!

The mathematical puzzles solved by Srinivasa Ramanujan more than a hundred years ago continue to surprise and inspire the scientific world today. His work, once seen as abstract and theoretical, is now revealing profound connections with modern physics.

In 1914, Ramanujan developed a set of extraordinary formulas to calculate the value of Pi. At the time, these equations were considered pure mathematics, with no known practical application. A century later, however, scientists have discovered that these same formulas are deeply linked to black holes and quantum physics.

A Notebook That Changed Mathematics

As Ramanujan prepared to travel from Madras (now Chennai) to Cambridge in 1914, he carried with him a notebook containing 17 different infinite series for calculating Pi. These

formulas were astonishingly advanced, faster and more accurate than any methods used by other mathematicians of that era.

Even today, modern supercomputers rely on ideas derived from Ramanujan’s work to calculate Pi.

IISc Scientists Make A Remarkable Discovery

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have now uncovered the hidden physical meaning behind Ramanujan’s Pi formulas.

Professor Aninda Sinha from IISc’s Centre for High Energy Physics explains that scientists have calculated up to 200 trillion digits of Pi using the Chudnovsky algorithm, a method directly based on Ramanujan’s equations.

Professor Sinha and his colleague Faizan Bhatt were not only interested in how quickly Ramanujan’s formulas could compute Pi, but also in how they were created and whether they reflected real-world physical phenomena. This curiosity led scientists to move beyond viewing Ramanujan’s work as abstract mathematics.

The Link To Conformal Field Theory

Their investigation led them to conformal field theory, particularly logarithmic conformal field theory. In simple terms, this theory describes systems that appear the same regardless of scale, whether viewed up close or from afar.

A familiar example is water at its critical point, where it becomes difficult to distinguish between liquid and steam.

Similar scale-invariant behaviour is observed in black holes and in the early stages of turbulence. Remarkably, Ramanujan’s Pi formulas share the same mathematical structure as these modern physical theories. Researchers found that applying Ramanujan’s equations significantly simplifies calculations in these complex systems.

Mathematics Written Before Physics Existed

Faizan Bhatt notes that every elegant piece of mathematics often reflects a physical system, even if its creator is unaware of it. In this sense, Ramanujan was unknowingly writing the mathematics that would later be used to understand black holes and turbulence, long before such concepts were fully developed in physics.

This discovery suggests that Ramanujan’s thinking transcended his era. Without access to modern physics or advanced scientific tools, he created mathematical structures that now underpin cosmology and high-energy physics.

A Legacy That Still Shapes Modern Science

The IISc study demonstrates that Ramanujan’s work remains highly relevant today, making complex calculations in high-energy physics faster and more efficient. Professor Sinha expressed amazement that a mathematician working in early 20th-century India, with no exposure to modern physics, could anticipate structures essential to understanding the universe.

The findings of this groundbreaking research have been published in Physical Review Letters, reaffirming Srinivasa Ramanujan’s enduring influence on both mathematics and modern science.